Unusual Friendship
by ipsa dixit
Summary: From the moment she first met him on the train she hated him./Lily had to work hard to conceal her smile./For ql


For the Quidditch League, Tutshill Tornados' Seeker. Write about a character forming a blossoming friendship with someone they wouldn't normally associate with.

WC: 961 by Google Docs

* * *

From the moment she first met him on the train she hated him. She had spent all of five minutes with him and Lily Evans could already tell that Sirius Black was loud, arrogant, and someone she would never be friends with. She couldn't really explain her feelings, especially when it was the other boy, James Potter, who was really loud, but there was a feeling in her gut that told her that she and Black would not get along. She didn't even speak to him until their third potions class, when Professor Slughorn announced that they would be given partners for the entire first half of the year. Of course Lily was put with Black. That was just the type of luck she had.

"Hey, Evans," Sirius said smoothly, sliding into the seat next to her.

"Don't call me Evans, Black," Lily snapped back.

"Don't call me Black and I won't call you Evans," Sirius replied, looking mock-offended.

Lily let out a little 'hmph' and turned to the board to see the instructions and materials for the potion they had to make that day.

"Okay, Black," she said, ignoring Sirius' previous offer of not calling each other by their last names. "We're going to need snake fangs, some herb mixture and some Billywig— oh." Lily turned back to Sirius, only to see that he already laid out all the ingredients they needed and was currently measuring out four cups of the herbs, without Lily even telling him to.

"I can read, Evans. I know what to do. Besides, I've made a Wideye Potion at home, probably around twenty times."

Lily was instantly jealous. When she first bought all of her Wizarding items she instantly wanted to open the potions set and start making some potions, but her parents wouldn't let her; they didn't want her to dive in without any instructions but a book. She somehow hated Sirius even more, out of jealousy, for possibly being better than her at something.

"Okay, then," she said, her jaw set. "If you're so great at potions, you can do it by yourself."

Sirius looked genuinely offended.

"But- I mean- We're supposed to be partners," he finally settled on. Lily didn't respond. "I'll even stop calling you Evans, Lily," he offered. Lily turned her back on him. "Or I can continue to call you Evans?" Lily grunted and slid down farther in her seat. "C'mon, Evans, I can't… duet… without you."

The horrible pun made Lily turn back to him and open her mouth, about to scold him on using puns to get her to help. Sirius cracked a smile and started to laugh.

"I knew a bad pun would get your attention," he said, dropping six snake fangs into the mortar and adding in the herb mixture.

Lily frowned, but part of her shell was cracked by that, somehow, so she pulled the Dried Billywig Stings closer to her and put four of them in their cauldron.

"Thank you. Lily," he added as an afterthought.

* * *

Their next few potions class went mostly the same way, with them doing the assigned potion together, but Sirius being the only one talking.

Eventually, Sirius got Lily to talk to him, when they were letting one of their potions sit.

"So," Sirius said, turning to Lily.

Lily hadn't talked to Sirius since their first class as partners; her pride was still wounded, plus she still didn't like Sirius. Maybe that would change.

"So," she responded, taking a chance. Sirius was shocked.

"Wow. You actually responded!"

Lily just shrugged.

"Oh," he said, disappointed at her lack of a real answer.

"You're not too bad, you know."

She wasn't lying. He was smart, for starters. He wasn't terrible-looking, plus he seemed to actually respect her as a person and wanted to be her friend.

Maybe he wasn't that bad?

"Aw, see you're really warming up to me," Sirius said, with a nudge.

Lily allowed herself a tiny smile.

* * *

It was the last class of the term, and last class with Lily and Sirius as partners. They were letting their Herbicide potion sit for the required forty-five minutes and Sirius was proud of their work in the class.

"Well, we have made quite the team in this class," Sirius said, sitting back. It was true; together they were at the very top of the class. "Even if you hardly ever talk to me. Why is that, again? Why do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you," she said, shyly.

"She speaks more than two words at a time!" Sirius said, throwing his hands up in surprise. "Wow."

Lily rolled her eyes, but after weeks together in potions, she was mostly used to his 'witty' commentary.

"I wanted to see how long you could put up with my silence," she admitted. "And besides, you talk so much that I could never even get a word in."

But Sirius could hear the teasing in her voice.

"The truth is, though, you might not be so bad, Sirius."

"Oh, thanks," he said, but he was smiling. She had never called him Sirius before.

"But we're not friends," she said, shoving him.

"Of course not," he said, solemnly.

"Oh, shoot, we need to add the Horklump juice, like now."

* * *

At the beginning of the second term, Professor Slughorn decided to assign partners for the term again, as it had worked well for the first half of the year. Name after name was read off and different pairs joined up until Sirius and Lily were the only ones left. Sirius caught Lily's eye and raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, yes, and the last pair, as it worked so well last time, Miss Evans and Mister Black."

Lily had to work hard to conceal her smile.


End file.
